(Continues directly from Chapter 49)

Late Afternoon - Mid Spring : Kingdom of Kaelallan

"What?! Was he a Nation Rank then?!"

"Uhm, I think so? His aura was around Michaels."

"So he was then.." She took a moment to think as she walked across the no longer molten floor. "Did you figure out what force sent them? To be able to send a Nation rank as a backup.. they must be pretty big."

-W..what? She didnt get information that basic from the guy she tortured?-

Noticing my look of disbelief, she quickly realized what I was thinking. “The man I was ‘interrogating’ was just really tight lipped.” She crossed her arms and pouted slightly.

Immediately giving up on trying to understand, I just went along as if she knew nothing. "Haah… Their captain was from The Tower."

Helen didn't seem too shocked by my answer though. "I guess they're finally making a move, huh.."

Her nonchalant response threw me off a little, but I didn't let it weigh on my mind. -Its probably not important anyways.- "Well, since it seems my job here is done, I'm going to go back and report to Oliver. Would you like me to escort you back to the palace?"

"No, I'll be fine. The knights will escort me once I finish everything here, so go ahead and head back if you'd like, make sure Sarah isn't getting too touchy with Oliver if you could as well.” As she spoke, an unreadable smile came to her face.

"Haha, okay.” I gave a nervous laugh since I couldn't tell if she was joking or not. -What a scary woman..- “Alright, let's go Ilios."

"Woof!"

Hastily making my way out of the room, I started heading up the stairs, but immediately ran into a group of knights.

Without taking time to ask questions, the knight in the front thrust his spear at my face. "Die, intruder!"

*Tap* Catching the spear just before it hit my face, I felt tempted to retaliate.

Just before I could do anything though, Helens voice echoed through the stairwell. "HE'S NOT THE INTRUDER!"

The knights, immediately recognizing her voice, froze in their place and paled slightly.

“Tch..” With a click of my tongue I let go of the spear and started walking around the group.

As I walked past them, one of the knights bowed. "We are very sorry sir, please forgive us!"

His bow was deep and his voice carried a mix of sincerity and fear but I quite literally didn’t care. "Don't bow and just go help the queen."

"Thank you sir!" His face quickly lit up as he gave one final bow and continued down the stairs.

-Man I could really go for a nap right about now..-

Quickly making my way up the stairs and outside, I had the joy of getting stopped by every knight group between the jail and the palace before finally making it inside.

Inside the main hall was a lone maid, Martha.

She froze and gave me a look of bewilderment seeing my blood covered clothes as I walked past her.

Assuming I should let her know, I gave her a heads up about Helen. "Helen is going to take a bit, she has some things she needs to take care of in the jail."

“Oh, okay… But, Young Master, do you need anything? Are you hurt? Would you like me to call a priest?" Concern was written all over her face.

-Why does she seem more worried about me than Helen?- "I'm fine. Thanks for your concern though." With a light wave, I walked past her and into the throneroom.

Inside, the hall was completely empty. -Is the door even going to be open?- Finally arriving at the throne, I immediately noticed the door to the shelter was closed. “Haah..” -Of course it isn't..-

Thinking it might just need the single switch under the throne, I flipped it with my shoe but the door didn't budge.

Without noticing, I was quickly getting annoyed. -I just want to take a nap, man..-

Realizing what I needed to do, I spent the next several minutes walking down various hallways, pressing the corners of paintings and getting weird looks from all of the maids.

-Well at least they aren't stopping me… I guess the information about who I am is finally circulating.-

Finally finishing flipping every switch in order, I made my way back into the throne room and flipped the main switch again.

*Click-(stone sliding)*

“Haah.. finally..” Making my way inside, I made sure to close it from the inside and took the lift down into the shelter.

Quickly looking around, I couldn't find Father or Oliver anywhere, but after a moment of looking, I overheard them talking in the cottage.

"So what ever happened with your parents? Are they still doing well?"

"Ah.. My father passed away just after we split up, and my mother passed somewhat recently to an unknown illness." Oliver's voice was drained of energy.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that…” The atmosphere was heavy, but Father was quick to lighten back up when he noticed me. “Oh, welcome back Vasilia..s.." His voice slowed as he noticed my clothes though.

Noticing his odd reaction, Oliver also turned to look at me but froze and went wide eyed immediately. "W..where's Helen..."

I was quick to calm his worries though. "She's fine, no one touched a hair on her body."

Immediately feeling a wave of relief wash over him, he relaxed a bit and took a deep breath. "Hooh.. thank goodness..."

Giving him a chance to calm his nerves, Father was quick to take over. "So.. what happened?” Worry was written all over his face.

"Well on my way out, I ran into another group of assassins. They were probably there to prevent information from leaking."

"And they were strong enough to leave you like this?"

"What do you mean 'like this'? I'm completely fine except for the broken wrist and that one was mostly your fault."

Noticing my slightly annoyed attitude, Father gave a look of guilt and hung his head a little lower.

Finally managing to catch his breath in the silence, Oliver spoke up again. "So how strong were they?"

"It was a group of 4, the 3 weakest were just a little stronger than you and the 4th was around Michael from earlier."

"So, 3 S rank and a Nation Rank?!"

"Yeah, that sounds about accurate. Is there something wrong with that?"

"Yes, very wrong. I dont know of anyone capable of sending a force like that… Unless it was a nation.." His eyes went wide for a moment as he quickly made his own assumptions.

-Man.. Is it just a human trait to jump to conclusions?- "It was the tower, not a nation."

“Ah.. that would actually.. make sense..” His expression quickly darkened as he fell into thought. "So did you manage to figure out why they tried to assassinate me?"

"They wanted to kill you and frame Michael for it. They saw you two as ‘in the way’ for some grand plan they have."

"Do you know what that plan is?"

"No, the assassin just said that they were trying to gain control of as many nations as possible."

His face quickly became more troubled. "Just what are they thinking.."

There was a long silence that filled the room as he tried to piece things together, but after about a minute of waiting, I got bored and tried to leave. "Since it seems like that's all the information you needed, I'm gonna go take a bath and take a nap. If you need me for anything else I'll either be in the hot spring or resting on one of those glorious cushions in the other area."

Oliver stopped me. "Alright, that's fine. Before you go though, what happened to that Nation rank you fought in the prison?"

"He's alive but just barely, I did a number on him. Helen is there to make sure things go smoothly though, so if all goes well you should have quite a good source of information."

"Oh, good, thank you for that. Thank you for protecting Helen as well.." He gave me a warm smile as he bowed his head.

"It's just part of the contract so don't get all emotional."

"Ah, sorry... Well, go enjoy your nap. Feel free to make yourself at home.."

Not wanting to waste any more time, I quickly opened the door and walked outside. *Click*

The instant I walked outside, Father and Oliver quickly started up on a new conversation.

“Why would the tower be trying to gather the force of several nations... Just what are they trying to do?" Oliver was clearly still distressed.

"I'm not totally sure, but it is definitely suspicious that they sent such a powerhouse to kill you specifically. It just feels like there are some pieces missing."

"Yeah I feel the same.."

"In any case, Vasilias left the Nation rank alive so let's just go ask him tomorrow. I've got some.. ‘questions’ for him." Unable to continue to suppress it, Fathers bloodlust started oozing out into the room. His eyes had a slightly crazed look to them. "I really wonder where he got his audacity from.."